


mishim

by pen_and_sword



Category: Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Fix-It, Multi, Sorry?, amnesia? but kinda willing amnesia, more characters/tags to come, most of the kholins are only mentioned for now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 20:08:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13395318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pen_and_sword/pseuds/pen_and_sword
Summary: Evi Kholin wakes up with a dry throat, no memories, and a misty, blurry woman with what might be a tail telling her to stop crying





	mishim

Evi drifted. 

It wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but it wasn't the most luxurious of experiences. Evi was wrapped in a soft cocoon of floaty warmth, which was admittedly very nice, but her skin felt so dry, and her mouth might've been filled with ash. Or sand. Or maybe some mixture of ash and sand? Evi vaguely wished she had tasted ash and sand, so she would have a comparison. 

Wait. Hadn't she tasted ash? Once before, in a moment colored by cold, blue, fear and dread, and helplessness. Thousands would die, and Evi had done all she could to stop it. ‘All she could’ had turned out to be useless. And then the blue fear had turned into orange panic as flames crawled up and-

Evi might've tasted ash before, but it was her skin that was the real bother here. At least half of her body felt numb, and dry, as if she was wearing leather over it. It made it hard to let that soft, downy warmth wrap itself around her. It was such a pleasant warmth, like her husband’s embrace, or the air of her homeland. It felt like such a long time since Evi had felt either. It hadn't really been that long, had it? She had seen her husband- what was his name again? Evi couldn't quite remember. He was tall, and a bit of an ass, Evi remembered that much. What did his face look like again? 

Fear began to build in Evi’s chest. She should be able to remember her husband’s face. Desperately, Evi reached for more memories. When was the last time she had seen her husband? Not long ago, but he had been so mad. Had they had an argument? Their union had been one of convenience, and her husband had a list of shortcomings longer than Evi’s, which Evi generally considered rather hard, but Evi loved her husband. Most of the time. Their marriage hadn’t been a happy one, but Evi didn't want it to end. If her husband was angry with her, Evi had to get up. She had to fix things. 

The cocoon started to unravel around her as Evi forced herself to awareness. The cold air brushed over whatever skin Evi could feel, and for a long second, Evi considered letting her marriage crumble. Her husband didn't listen to her much anyway, and it had been so long since Evi had been at peace like this. But. Her husband wasn't a bad person, despite being a bad highprince, husband, and committing a rather large amount of what Evi was sure had been terrible atrocities. She couldn't remember the specifics of the terrible atrocities, but they had definitely happened. 

And most motivating of all, Evi loved her husband. She may not remember him, and he may have not loved her back, but Evi had grown skilled at negotiating with life. She would take what she could get. 

Evi lurched into awareness with a rush. It felt like she had returned to reality after a long time away. She didn’t like it. Evi tried to open her eyes, but they were crusted over with… something. She lifted a hand to rub away the grime and froze. Evi’s face, her smooth, beautiful face was rough and bumpy to the touch. She couldn't even feel her own hand touching her own face. Hurriedly, Evi rubbed at her eyes, ignoring the burning-itching-tearing sensation she caused. Evi needed to see. She needed to prove that her hands were wrong, because Evi could not handle them to being anything else. 

The first thing Evi saw when she pried open her eyes were the tiny bits of hardened ash on her fingers. Why had ash been on her eyelashes? Panic began coil tight around Evi’s stomach. The Alethi had strange and, if Evi was being honest, bad taste in everything, but ash was not makeup. Even the Alethi knew that. Ash did not belong on her face, which was tight and dry, and rough under Evi’s fingers. 

Evi stretched out her hands in front of her. The edges of her sleeves was black, and well above her wrists, and Evi shoved all the thoughts they brought to her head far away and ignored that her sleeves existed. Her hands, at least, were blessedly, blessedly, normal. Tan skin, and perfectly manicured nails. Evi’s looks had been the only thing the Alethi had approved of, and even though Evi would never admit it, the other women’s jealous glances had been like water in a desert. Evi had treasured each and every one. And she would get more. It was okay. 

Evi forced a smile onto her face. This situation was not too awful. She just had to find out where she was, get help, get home, and sort out whatever fight she had had with her husband, whoever he was. 

That. That was a lot of things to do, actually. And all Evi really wanted was to curl up next to a fire, and let her son regale her with tales of nonsense, and have her other son show her whatever significantly less imaginary thing he had learned that day, and maybe her husband would wander in and play the evil enemy her eldest was currently fighting, and nod encouragingly at her youngest. 

But instead of that, Evi was here, in the middle of what might be Jezerezah’Elin’s ass for all she knew, her family’s names not even a blur in her mind. Storm this, Evi thought, with what were -horrifyingly- tears welling up in her eyes. The Alethi wouldn't approve of that either, because as a rule, Alethi disapproved of emotions. A tear started to run down Evi’s not-dry-for-a-mysterious-reason cheek. Did crying count as discreetly telling the Alethi they were all snobbish pricks with their noses wedged up in places a lady did not mention, who’s one and only solution to any and all problems was an overabundance of murder? Evi wished it did. She could be the most rebellious woman in all of Roshar. Maybe her husband would love her then, Evi thought in one part fury, one part humor, and two parts heartbreak.

Two more tears rolled after the first in quick succession, and Evi nearly wanted to laugh. Here she was, in the middle of a forest, with a torn dress and blurred memories and all she could do was cry. The thought made a sob well up in Evi’s throat. 

“My mother didn’t bring you back to cry,” said a voice. It was smooth, yet cold, like water running over a wound. 

Evi didn't stop crying, but she lifted her head up. Who was in the forest? And why had her mother brought Evi to the forest? Surely there were better people to bring to forests. Could this person give Evi back her memories? Had she taken them away in the first place. 

There was a green blur in front of Evi. It- she? Was the green blur the voice? Why did a green blur have a voice? Had it brought Evi here to kill her? Or, maybe use her against Alethkar? 

Hurriedly, Evi wiped tears out of her eyes. Maybe- hopefully- the green blur was just someone who liked the color green a lot. Or green was part of their ritual to kill her, and invade Alethkar, and kill her family. 

The green blur did not become any clearer when the tears left. If anything, it was worse. The green blur was still a blur, except now it was a blur with a misty tail that wound and rewound amongst the trees. Two… limb things stretched out in front of the blur, which Evi decided was probably female. The only thing wasn’t blurry was her face. It was quite a beautiful face, beautiful and inhuman, and undeniably terrifying. 

“I. I’m sorry?” Evi said. She did not know what to say to the green misty woman with a tail, whose mother had brought her back from what could be the Herald’s washroom for all Evi remembered, and who wanted her not to cry. 

Another sob burst out of Evi’s throat, and then another, and then Evi was curling up on the forest floor, doing nothing but crying, while the green blur did not but stare unhelpfully.

**Author's Note:**

> Evi loves repressing all her negative emotions. It's really her only Alethi-approved hobby. Please leave kudos/comments! :)
> 
> So edit: ao3 has this marked as complete, but ao3's wrong and I don't care enough to do anything about it. There will be more chapters! Just don't expect them delivered soon or consistently


End file.
